Hi all, I just picked up a '93 Bridgestone RB-2. First of all, I barely know anything about roadbikes. Although I did a lot of research I'm still pretty sketchy on some stuff.

I looked up the year and model from Sheldon Brown's website, and I've figured out that it's a 1993 Bridgestone RB-2. It came stock with Shimano Exage(?) components, and looking over the bike, it does have some parts labelled "400EX". The previous owner also swapped out the rear derailleur, and front and rear brakes for Shimano 600. The rear hub is also a Shimano Ultegra.

The only problem I can detect is that something is scraping when I shift to a certain gear. Do I have to adjust my derailleur? Seems like the chain is rubbing against the larger chainring.

Does anyone know how competent this bike is? It seems pretty light. In fact, it's lighter than my track bike.

Also, does anyone know how difficult it would be to convert the downtube shifters onto the brakes/hoods?

If your in the smallest cog in the back and the smallest chainring in the front the chain may rub on the inside of the large chainring, thats just the way it is. Thats one of the the combinations thats NOT recommended. Try to avoid small/small and large/large.

According to my 1993 catalog your bike had 400ex derailleurs and shift levers w/ a 500ex rear hub. Obviously someone made some changes.

That's a beautiful bike. If you're asking about changing the downtube shifters to indexed shifters combined with brake levers in the hoods, you'd pretty much have to replace the entire drive train: derailleurs, chain, rear cogs (and wheel), and crankset. You'd also likely need to spread your rear dropouts further apart. IMHO you should stick with the downtube shifters, they'll work great when you get used to them. Looks like a pretty small frame. Are you a small person?

If you're asking about changing the downtube shifters to indexed shifters combined with brake levers in the hoods, you'd pretty much have to replace the entire drive train: derailleurs, chain, rear cogs (and wheel), and crankset. You'd also likely need to spread your rear dropouts further apart.

Oh please
Any 7 or 8 speed (Non-DA) STI levers should work just peachy with what you have. If you use 8 speed levers on a 7 speed cassette you will have one extra click that doesn't do anything, but the spacing is the same. Depending on how your chainstay clearance looks, you can also just replace the 7 speed cassette with an 8 speed cassette. You'll need the levers, stops that bolt on to the shifter bosses and new cables/housing. That's it, I can't begin to guess at the reasoning that would have you swap the entire drivetrain, the tri-color series included STI levers for pete's sake.

Oh please
Any 7 or 8 speed (Non-DA) STI levers should work just peachy with what you have. If you use 8 speed levers on a 7 speed cassette you will have one extra click that doesn't do anything, but the spacing is the same. Depending on how your chainstay clearance looks, you can also just replace the 7 speed cassette with an 8 speed cassette. You'll need the levers, stops that bolt on to the shifter bosses and new cables/housing. That's it, I can't begin to guess at the reasoning that would have you swap the entire drivetrain, the tri-color series included STI levers for pete's sake.